A wide variety of electronic devices are available for consumers today. Many of these devices have connectors that facilitate communication with and/or charging of a corresponding device. These connectors often interface with other connectors through cables that are used to connect devices to one another. Sometimes, connectors are used without a cable to directly connect the device to another device, such as a charging station or a sound system.
As smart-phones, media players and other electronic devices become more sophisticated, a limiting factor on the performance of a particular device may be the rate at which data can be transferred to and from the device. As an example, data transfer cables having connectors at either end are sometimes used to exchange data with portable media devices. The usefulness of such portable media devices may be limited by the rate at which data, such as a file containing a movie, may be transferred to the device. More sophisticated electronic devices may be able to hold numerous movie files and the more expedient the file transfer the more convenient the device may be for the user.
New connectors such as the connector employed in the data transfer cable just described as well as other connectors, may require new features and/or changes to commonly used connector components to support increased data transfer rates.